Scabooty is NINE

Why do our babies have to keep growing. Tale as old as time, I guess. Scott is my baby and he's 5'3", 110 lbs, 9.5 mens shoe size, ENORME! Why? He still likes his Mama, though. I treasure our time together. He is so hilarious. He is always looking at the bright side (and the funny side if he's in church...little punk) Scott has such a passion for life and doesn't hesitate. He dives right in with little or no prodding. He loves reading and math, so we got him a kindle for his birthday. He was so surprised. "I didn't think you and Dad would ever trust me with something like that, Mom!"

Campfire Club

For the boys' birthday parties, I always hit up our local candy shop in Downtown PO. The owner is so nice and has so many ideas. Lately, she's been carrying camping themed books, etc. She started a campfire club with her neighbors when her kids were little. It stayed with them and now her grown kids and their families keep the tradition going. We had a fire pit at our last house and we used it so often. We even hosted parties for some of our church youth as a safe clean place to get together. Scott's birthday usually kicks off our outdoor season here, so we decided to build another pit here. Our local rockery has these kits already palleted and ready to go. Tom just trucked in some rock as a bed and he and Dallin began leveling it and setting the stone. It is SO perfect. I love that we get to hang out here and spend time as a fam. Eventually, we'll pour concrete around it for chairs or benches to sit on. Now I just need to make some more adirondack chairs to go around it:) The ones I built a few years ago are very sad. I think I need to use beefier materials.:) There's a lot of beef in this family:) (Not referring to the cow we now own...what's next, Tom?)

Baseball

Two more weeks and we are done with baseball. I have to admit...I'm kind of excited to spend my evenings at home for a while:) The boys have had such a great season and they have all grown so much. We got so lucky to get such great coaches this year. As a parent, it can be really hard to keep your cool with a mean or overly obnoxious coach. I only mouthed off once all season:)...and that was to another team's coach...tee hee hee.

Dallin's Cedar Heights JH team

Scotty at bat for the Phillies

Michael's big hit for majors. We found out last week that his coach, Eric Canton, has just been hired as SK high school's head football coach:) Who didn't see that comin'? Pretty cool. I hope he can get some spirit back into that school!

What a fun season! We'll see who makes allstars.

Junior Dallin

We really debated on whether to let Dallin play little league as well as school ball this year. I thought it would be too much and just wanted him to play school ball. After many hours on the phone with his SKSLL coach, I finally gave in. To my surprise, Dallin loves little league ball 10 to 1 to school ball. He finds it more fun and seems to do better when he's at ease. School ball is very competitive and makes him nervous. He is still clueless as to his skill level. He is only in 7th grade and made the JV team of 8th graders. 9th is varsity. Pretty good, right? He is also the starting 1st baseman and pitcher when needed. As a 7th grader, that is pretty rare. AND YET...he still is nervous of playing school ball. I don't get it. So, he gets to have fun ball and "important" ball. Nice balance. I watched one of his school ball games last week and was shocked at the level of skill (lacking, that is). His little league team would eat school for LUNCH. Yup. I guess it has something to do with his juniors team having 13-15 year-olds on the team. He gets to play with some boys that have more experience and learn from them. So...in the end, Dallin is happy, Mama is happy, coach is happy, WE ALL HAPPY;) Go Cedar! Go SKSLL!

Pitchin'

Michael pitching in his first game of the season.

Scotty pitching in his first game of the season.

For you SK alum,...Michael's coach is Mr. Canton:) He's so great with the kids and has a wealth of knowledge to help them. He has such a great attitude...it rubs off on the boys. Their practices are held at the Bloomquist home...they still have a full size baseaball field and covered batting cages there, so the boys can really get some great practice in.

All three of my boys are pitchers this year. It is fun to watch them and all their similarities and differences. Dallin is just powerful. It's hilarious to watch the reaction on the batters' faces when the first meet up with his pitching style. He has no idea that he's a great athlete, though. It sure helps in the humble department, but it sometimes interferes with his ability to regroup after a mistake. Michael isn't quite as hard on himself, but he sure gets down when things don't go perfectly. Unfortunately, baseball is NOT the sport to play if you are a perfectionist. It is the one sport made mostly of mistakes and imperfections. If you hit 1 out of every 3, you're considered great. It's a tough lesson for these boys to swallow sometimes. Then, there's Mr. Scotty. He doesn't give a rip what anyone thinks of him. He laughs at himself and bounces right back into the game. I tend to like watching him more because I don't have the same heartache as I do watching the older two. He's such a goonie. He's only 8 this season, so he'll have at least one more year down here in Minors, but he'll be smackin em outta the park next year. He's just a big kid. I think he'll probably pass Dal and Mike. He is wearing the same size shoe as Mike this year and he's 2 1\2 years younger.

Briggs Boys

Uncle Mike flew in from Switzerland

Uncle Nate

Uncle Jeff

Torvin

Grandpa Briggs

Dallin

Tommy

Scooty

Michael

All the Briggs' family boys (including sons-in-law) were together this last weekend. It was so fun to see them all laughing and jokin' around. I know we don't get to have this often, so I really soaked it up.

Happy Green Birthday, Dal

Dallin loves green...I bought every green thing I could find for this party:)

Yes, I was a tad exhausted from this week, but he is my buddy!

We parked on the Purdy Spit and had some dessert on his birthday:) It was peezin' toad, Mama.

Aaaaannnddd...a birthday dinner out at Famous Dave's BBQ. Mmm. So tasty!

Oh, he's 13. "Mom, I don't feel any different." It makes me laugh that he thinks that he would change overnight;) What a funny kid. I am not sad one bit! I love that he is getting older, learning more, progressing through life. I love that I get to have more "adult" conversations with him. He is a kind, compassionate, understanding guy (unless it comes to his little brothers, but that is a tale as old as time). I love watching him get excited about little things...noticing little things...smiling at little babies...collecting little knives...silly comin' from a kid that has been anything but little. Here we go!!